Prayers for Ukraine

I don't know what to say to my lovely, vivacious aunt who is hiding, terrified, in an unheated cellar while bombs and rockets are destroying apartment buildings and city squares nearby. She has been there for six days.

Can I say it is going to be OK? Do I repeat again and again that I have not stopped praying for the protection of the innocent and for wisdom for Russian, Ukrainian and NATO leaders? Or that help is on the way? Or do I just cry with her?

I just say I love her.

I can't hear the bombs when we talk. I can only see the devastating pictures of Kharkiv, the city I visited so often as a child on the way to visit my grandparents. My aunt, who has lived in the city for almost 40 years, has not seen the destruction yet. She has mostly been in that cold cellar with a friend and her 17-year-old granddaughter.

I pray.

I have been following the news so much. In Russian, German, French, Ukrainian, Belarusian. Hearing this news in multiple languages puts a heavier, more extensive burden of information on my shoulders. My home country of Belarus may be soon part of this horrific war. More bombs and tanks and innocent lives.

I pray, I donate, I sign anti-war petitions, I argue with those who defend this "special military operation." I pray again. I think of what else I can do.

Does it really help to share my grief? Maybe more people will say a prayer tonight for peace. Our Father is merciful and just. I believe in the power of prayer.

Fear is real for those who are hiding in cellars from bombs. Heavenly Father, please give me the words.

__Victoria Vygodskaia-Rust__, Cape Girardeau